First Hearing Scheduled For Vulnerable Road Users Bill

MassBike’s Vulnerable Road Users bill is scheduled for a hearing before the Joint Committee on Transportation on Tuesday, June 14, 2011, at the State House in Boston. As previously reported, the bill was filed early this year. You can see the bill here. The bill will encourage motorists to exercise more caution when operating around vulnerable road users, such as bicyclists and pedestrians, and will provide law enforcement with additional tools to protect vulnerable road users.

What we need right now is to hear from people whose lives have been impacted by a crash between a bicyclist and a motorist in Massachusetts, particularly where the motorist was not held accountable. Whether you are a victim yourself, or close to a someone who cannot speak for him- or herself, we want to hear your story. Please contact Executive Director David Watson at david@massbike.org or 617-542-2453. In addition to sharing your story, please indicate whether you would be willing to testify at the hearing in support of the bill. (Testifying is not as scary as it sounds – you just have to tell your story in your own words.) Feel free to also share your thoughts in comments to this post.

We may need help from the bicycling public to get the bill reported favorably out of this committee, and moved on to the next step in the legislative process. Keep your eyes open for possible Action Alerts from MassBike over the next week.